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In this tutorial we will setup all the software needed to work with the Alchitry Cu.

Installing iCEcube2

The first step to setting up your environment is to install iCEcube2. iCEcube2 is a program provided by Lattice (the manufacture of the FPGA on the Cu) that is used to build your projects. It holds all the secret sauce that converts your text into an FPGA configuration file (bin file).

On Linux you don't need root permissions if you are installing it somewhere you already have write permissions. I usually install mine to /opt/lattice/icecube2 which I have setup to be owned by me. By default, it tries to install it to your home directory.

You should now be able to run the installer.

Installing

The installer itself is pretty straight forward.

Just run through pointing it to where you want it installed and your license file you downloaded.

Alchitry Labs or Alchitry Loader

Now is decision time. You have a few options for developing for the Cu. The first, and recommended, option is to download Alchitry Labs.

Alchitry Labs supports both Lucid and Verilog. It also has some very handy features like a library of built in components, real-time error checking for Lucid, real-time syntax checking for Verilog, support for Alchitry Constraints so you don't need to look at the schematics to define pinouts, and single click builds.

This is a very basic program that will transfer the .bin file you generate on your own to the Cu (or Au). This is what you should use if you want to use iCEcube2 directly to build your projects. This also opens up all the Lattice supported build methods including VHDL.

Lucid is a language we developed that is similar to Verilog but can significantly reduce the lines of code required for the same design and makes the easy "gotchas" of Verilog impossible. We highly recommend this for hobbyists/beginners.